KT captain Jang Seong-woo, who took on the role of fourth hitter instead of the home run batters on the team. He self-deprecatingly remarked that the team only ranked fifth when he was the fourth hitter last year.

Professional baseball KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-cheol is preparing for the 2025 season with a quirky lineup that places cleanup trio resources in the table setters, unlike other teams. Typically, players with high on-base percentages and speed occupy the first and second spots, while power hitters with excellent clutch ability drive runners home from the third, fourth, and fifth spots, but in KT, power hitters like Kang Baek-ho and Mel Rojas Jr. who combined for 58 home runs last year will occupy the first and second spots.

Since its inception in 2019, the KT Lee Kang-cheol team has played a style of baseball that is somewhat distant from mobility. Manager Lee had the ambition for a 'running baseball' that has become a league trend, but due to a lack of players who are fast and have good base-running sense, he established a strategy of advancing home run hitters. Manager Lee said, “Our team lacks players who can steal bases. Ultimately, we have to place our best hitters at the front so they can have more at-bats.”

The player who has newly taken on the role of fourth hitter is none other than Jang Seong-woo. Jang Seong-woo is also a batter with exceptional power. He has hit double-digit home runs for five consecutive years since 2020 and has showcased an on-base percentage over .400 for four years, excluding 2021. Last year, at the age of 34, he achieved a career-high with 19 home runs and 81 RBIs while recording a slugging percentage of .450.

However, Jang Seong-woo is not the type of fourth hitter typically spoken of in baseball circles. He is specialized in contact and situational hitting rather than power. Unlike a typical fourth hitter, he also strikes out less. Ironically, this makes him fit extremely well into the KT batting lineup. When Kang Baek-ho and Rojas set the stage at the front, he is excellent at capitalizing on it alongside Heo Kyung-min and Kim Min-hyeok.

Recently, Jang Seong-woo said, “Last year I jokingly said, ’Do you know why we can only rank fifth? It’s because I’m batting fourth,’ but the manager says that good hitters need to be positioned in front unlike other teams. It’s true that the weight of the cleanup trio is lighter, but I just see myself as the fourth hitter.”

However, the role of the fourth hitter is significant. Jang Seong-woo explained, “Kang Baek-ho and Rojas have such high on-base percentages that I and (Heo) Kyung-min try to have a lot of team batting. The manager prefers a baseball style where if Kang Baek-ho and Rojas are on base, I drive them in.” He added, “Of course, the strongest hitters in the team should be in the third, fourth, and fifth spots, but everyone is already accustomed to our batting lineup.”

Jang Seong-woo's mindset upon entering the batter's box is also quite different from that of other fourth hitters. He stated, “I try to focus more on hitting situationally. I shouldn’t hit pitches thrown by left-handers and right-handers with the same hitting technique. For instance, the pitches from Kim Taek-yeon of the Doosan Bears have good vertical movement and tend to rise, so I can’t just blindly try to lift them from below. By hitting situationally, I tend to produce many runs in clutch situations when there are runners on base, which also increases my concentration.”

KT Lee Kang-cheol's team continues to be mentioned as a strong candidate for the championship this year. There are also murmurs of them being a contender against the defending champions, KIA Tigers. Unlike last year, they are able to complete all training in good weather at their spring camps in Australia and Japan, raising expectations of breaking out of being slow starters. If Kang Baek-ho and Rojas diligently set the stage and fourth hitter Jang Seong-woo produces timely runs and showcases his clutch ability, expectations for the team's second championship can also grow.

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